Dolph Lundgren's Bout With Fame Getting Your Brains Beat Out By Rocky Is A Good Career Move

November 26, 1985|By Vernon Scott, United Press International

HOLLYWOOD — It pays any actor to have Sylvester Stallone pound him to pebbles in the Rocky Balboa pictures.

Beginning with Carl Weathers in the original Rocky and moving on to Mr. T in Rocky III, Balboa's adversaries in the ring have survived to become stars in their own right.

Weathers is known around the world as Apollo Creed, the heavyweight champion who lost his crown to Rocky. Since his appearance as Creed, Weathers has played top roles in Force 10 From Navarone, Death Hunt and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

He stars in his Stormy Weathers Productions TV movie, The Defiant Ones.

Hitting fame and fortune even bigger is Mr. T, currently the star of TV's The A Team, and a legend in the merchandising field.

Until he played Clubber Lang in Rocky III he was just another bodyguard for well-known prize fighters. Today he is a millionaire cottage industry with other movies and TV films to his credit.

With luck Dolph Lundgren will attain stardom after moviegoers see him as Ivan Drago, a Soviet Union heavyweight contender and Rocky Balboa's nemesis in Rocky IV, due for release this week.

Lundgren, 26, is a towering 6-foot-6, 240-pound hunk of Swedish muscle with a blond crew cut and granite jaw.

He boasts of academic achievements as an electrical engineer and several scholarships. He also is quick to let you know he is a karate black belt and was twice European kick-boxing champion.

Lundgren's reasoning for refusing to become a professional boxer when the opportunity was given him: ''I like my brains and my nose the way they are.'' He speaks English well but with a distinctive accent and acknowledges that playing a boxer in a Rocky film cannot hurt his acting aspirations.

''It's a very good way to launch a Hollywood career,'' he said. ''I am a fan of Rocky films. I was supposed to play a role in Rambo, but Sylvester wanted to save me for this picture.''

Despite his accomplishments, Lundgren's career was limited to modeling and a small role in A View to a Kill until he sent his picture to Stallone.

Once Stallone decided that Lundgren would make a menacing Russian heavy, he proceeded to put the Swede through a punishing training regimen. They worked out together for seven months, lifting weights, boxing and choreographing fight scenes.

''We got along fine,'' he said. ''Our relationship was more than that of an actor and director or two actors. We got to know each other working out three hours every day. He was the boss, but we were friends.

''During fight scenes he sometimes allowed us to wing it. So we were throwing real punches. Sylvester hurt me several times. But I like getting hit hard. It helps me lose some of my aggressions.

''I also hurt him. He let one of my punches get past his guard. I hit him so hard on the chest I bruised his heart muscle. We had to take a production break until he was well enough to continue. Sylvester didn't blame me.''

Because the training requirements are so brutal and tiring, Stallone has said there will be no Rocky V, but Lundgren thinks otherwise.

''Sylvester said there wouldn't be Rocky IV, but he changed his mind,'' Lundgren said. ''I hope that I would be playing his opponent in the next Rocky but maybe I will be busy in other projects when that happens.

''The publicity about this picture and the trailers have brought a lot of attention to me. It's opened the doors for four or five other roles. But I'm waiting for the film to come out. This business is notorious for being slow to react. I'll be more valuable if the film is a hit.

''I had no trouble with the Russian accent. Russian friends say I do it well. After all, I speak English, Swedish, French, German and some Japanese. Languages come easy to me.

''My character, Drago, is not a cliche Russian. The script shows the human side of the man. He is a Red Army officer and an Olympic boxing champion. I went to the Russian Embassy in London and they gave me a lot of information. They were friendly and helpful.

''But to tell you the truth, I don't think Rocky IV will be a big hit in Moscow.''